U.S. airfare in June was up 26.5% compared with a year earlier, according to the latest federal data, with rising fuel prices partly to blame, but airlines are also charging high prices because they can. The U.S. economy is stronger than most in the mainstream media give it credit for, and the airline business is booming, as evidenced by the new all-time high in the U.S. Global Jets ETF (JETS) and its constituents, such as Delta Air Lines (DAL), JetBlue (JBLU), and United Airlines (UAL). Over the past ten months, research notes have analyzed soaring share prices of trucking stocks, industrial stocks, diesel engine makers, steelmakers, shopping mall operators, and hotel chains, pointing to their soaring stock prices as evidence that the U.S. economy is doing much better than most people think. These industries are highly sensitive to ups and downs in the U.S. economy, and their fortunes rise and fall with America’s ability to build infrastructure projects, go on vacation, transport goods, spend money at the mall, and generally just “get along.” This exceptional price strength across a broad swath of critical companies suggests the economy is actually doing very well. The stock market is one of the world’s greatest forecasting mechanisms, tending to look ahead 6-12 months, often called “discounting the future.” The stock prices of large U.S. airlines are another important “real world” indicator,